k 


UC-NRLF 


273    flM7 


GIFT  OF 


THE 
NEXT  STEP 

By 
CLOTILDE  GRUNSKY 

AND 

C.  EWALD  GRUNSKY 


PUBLISHED  IN  THE 
INTEREST  OF  WORLD'S  PEACE 

1915 


PEACE  AND  PATRIOTISM    -   Page  3 
THE  UNITED  WORLD     -    -   Page  16 


/ 


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PEACE 
AND  PATRIOTISM 

by 
CLOTILDE  GRUNSKY. 

An  Address  Delivered  at  the  Springtime  Conference,  Los  Gatos, 
California,  April  13, 1915. 


It  is  the  fashion  nowadays  to  pray  for  Europe.  With  the  earnest 
new  belief  that  war  is  wrong,  we  rise  and  beseech  God  to  bring 
reason  to  a  world  gone  mad.  We  pray  for  our  brothers  at  arms  as 
for  sinners  who  are  lost  and  must  be  saved.  We  recognize  the 
present  conflict  as  the  great  crime  of  the  ages  and  we  feel  that 
those  who  today  support  it  can  be  looked  upon  only  as  criminals 
before  God.  We  cry  upon  them  to  cease  in  God's  name. 

And  who  are  we  thus  fervently  to  counsel  with  our  Maker?  We 
are  those  who  yesterday  made  boast  of  ancestors  because  one 
time  they  won  a  war.  We  are  they  whose  hearts  beat  high  to 
read  the  passionate  defiance  of  the  Revolution  orators.  We  have 
boasted  of  our  brave  dead,  calling  them  heroes;  we  have  sung  of 
them  and  told  their  stories  to  our  children,  glorious  narratives  of 
loyalty  and  sacrifice  we  have  been  proud  to  call  our  own.  But 
yesterday  it  was,  we  stood  with  bared  heads  to  join  in  the  strains 
of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  and  in  our  hearts  there  was  some- 
thing of  a  real  thrill  of  patriotism.  For  a  moment  we  too  could 
be  capable  of  great  sacrifice  for  our  country — and  we  felt  uplifted 
by  the  experience,  we  felt  that  we  had  touched  something  greater 
and  finer  than  the  selfishness  of  our  everyday  lives. 

But  yesterday  this  was,  today — today,  we  find  ourselves  respond- 
ing just  the  same.  We  recite  our  country's  praises  with  the  same 

336078 


ring  of  pride,  we  sing  America  with  the  same  solemn  inward  dedi- 
cation. Dazedly  we  realize  that  it  is  just  such  feelings  as  these 
which  today  are  animating  the  warring  peoples  of  Europe.  This, 
a  little  bit  intensified,  is  what  war  means  to  them.  We  who  have 
prayed,  are  we  so  sure  then  that  the  war  is  wrong?  We  believe 
in  our  new  vision  of  Peace  with  the  certain  conviction  that  here 
lies  a  great  Truth  and  yet  we  cannot  help  the  real  admiration,  the 
positive  humility  we  feel  in  the  presence  of  the  great  heroes  of 
history — yes,  before  some  of  the  humbler  heroes  of  this  present 
war  on  whose  behalf  we  even  now  have  plead  with  God. 

I  believe  this  apparent  inconsistency  is  a  real  stumbling  block 
in  the  minds  of  many.  For  there  are  a  great  many  people  in  the 
world  today  who  do  not  disbelieve  in  war.  I  have  read  articles 
in  American  newspapers  and  magazines  defending  it.  Many  a 
peace-loving  American  there  is  who  knows  that  if  the  occasion 
should  arise,  he,  too,  would  go  forth  with  a  glad  heart  to  do 
battle  for  his  country.  There  are  few  who  are  not  in  receipt  of 
letters  from  Europe  glorying  in  the  present  conflict.  "I  am  glad 
to  be  living  today,  for  it  is  a  great  time,"  writes  one,  "a  great  time, 
when  people  forget  petty  things  and  make  unselfish  sacrifice.  We 
are  living  on  a  higher  plane  than  ever  before."  "Word  came  to- 
day that  our  eldest  boy  was  killed,"  writes  another.  "It  is  terrible 
to  think  that  he  will  never  come  back  to  us.  He  was  so  young. 
But  we  cannot  grudge  him  to  the  country,  and  we  do  not  wear 
mourning  for  him,  for  we  know  he  died  a  noble  death."  We  read 
these  letters,  perhaps,  with  a  pitying  sense  of  superiority.  But  oh, 
it  was  our  own  people  who  were  feeling  these  things  in  1865,  in 
1776.  It  was  our  own  brave  women  of  the  north  and  south  who 
gave  their  husbands  and  sons  and  learned  to  stand  erect  under  a 
sorrow  which  they  counted  a  pride.  How  dare  we  pity  them,  we 
of  little  lives? 

War  has  the  great  virtue  of  being  a  sacrifice.  On  the  part  of 
the  individual  it  is  a  giving  without  hope  of  gain.  Much  has  been 
said  about  the  armies  which  march  forth  to  kill  their  fellow  men, 
but  there  is  never  an  army  of  them  all,  I  believe,  who  did  not 
march  forth  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  They  were  going  forth 
not  to  kill,  but  to  be  killed,  not  as  adventurers,  but  martyrs. 
Much  has  been  said  of  war  bringing  out  the  worst  in  man — so  does 


ggrg  area 

it  bring  out  his  best.  What  wonder  in  this  age  of  sordid  bargain- 
ings that  a  nation-wide  sacrifice  in  the  name  of  loyalty  is  looked 
upon  as  a  height  hitherto  unreached?  Who  shall  condemn  the 
spirit  of  an  unselfish  patriotism  in  favor  of  the  commercialism  of 
which  it  took  the  place?  I  cannot,  I  cannot  read  the  pages  of 
history  and  fail  to  pay  my  tribute  to  the  indomitable  courage  and 
sacrifice  therein  recorded.  I  cannot  view  the  present  conflict  with- 
out something  of  admiration,  much  of  sympathy  for  the  individuals 
of  both  sides  who  are  giving  of  their  best  with  no  return. 

And  yet — and  yet  there  is  the  terrible  other  side  to  the  picture. 
We  look  on  at  the  awful  useless  devastations  sweeping  over 
Europe,  we  realize  that  it  is  national  patriotism  which  has  sup- 
plied the  fuel  for  this  conflagration,  and  we  know  with  a  sudden 
deep  conviction  that  national  patriotism  is  wrong. 

We  know  it  not  alone  for  this  war,  but  for  any  war  in  which  a 
nation  might  engage.  For  no  war  can  present  a  clear  issue  be- 
tween right  and  wrong.  Clear  as  his  principles  may  shine  before 
the  man  who  goes  to  war  in  the  name  of  right,  if  he  will  but  lift 
up  his  eyes,  he  must  see  that  it  is  not  the  wrong  he  is  fighting  but 
his  fellowmen,  partly  right  and  partly  wrong.  Set  up  his  idol  as 
he  may,  the  stage  is  shifted  while  his  head  is  bowed  and  he  looks 
up  to  find  that  he  has  laid  his  sacrifice  at  the  foot  not  of  Right,  but 
of  Nationality. 

In  the  ardor  of  his  giving,  he  perhaps  refuses  to  acknowledge 
a  mistake.  Blindly  he  gives  his  worship  to  his  country,  blacken- 
ing his  checkered  foe  with  the  hatred  which  must  fill  up  the  great 
blanks  that  Reason  has  left  to  an  unsatisfied  conscience.  His 
nation  becomes  the  defender  of  the  world  against  itself,  the  bearer 
of  the  divine  spark  which  alone  may  justify  humanity.  Alone  they 
have  achieved  their  present  high  civilization — highest  civilization 
of  all  to  them,  because  they  understand  it — alone  they  shall  go  on 
triumphant  to  lead  man  onward  and  upward.  It  is  their  right  to 
lead. 

It  is  the  blindness  of  a  faith  that  fears  to  see.  What  difference 
to  the  world  if  this  name  or  that  be  given  to  it  while  it  struggles 
if  the  lines  upon  a  schoolroom  map  be  drawn  now  here,  now  there. 
There  is  no  geographic  barrier  to  divide  the  right  from  the  wrong, 


no  little  island  of  humanity  which  is  more  worth  saving  than  the 
whole. 

The  heritage  of  achievements  made,  of  hilltops  gained  from 
which  to  look  aloft  again — it  is  a  heritage  which  comes  from  all 
mankind.  A  nation  can  thank  its  immediate  ancestors  for  very 
little  of  its  civilization.  Its  science  is  Egyptian,  Italian,  German, 
American;  its  music,  its  art,  its  very  manners  the  drif tings  from 
a  hundred  shores;  its  religion  and  its  morals  are  but  a  compound 
of  the  wonderings  of  the  savage  with  the  vision  of  the  Hebrew 
and  the  philosophy  of  all  the  world.  No  one  nation  gave  Plato, 
Dante,  Shakespeare,  Tolstoi,  Kant  to  the  world.  And  no  nation, 
supreme  above  the  .others,  shall  nurse  its  spark  alone  to  triumphant 
flame.  If  we  believe,  as  believe  we  must  to  stand  upright  at  all, 
if  we  believe  that  humanity  shall  rise  somehow  justified  in  the 
end,  we  know  that  we  must  cast  our  lot  in  with  the  world,  to  rise 
and  fall  in  its  success.  The  brave  few  who  with  clear  vision 
struggle  upward  to  a  little  higher  level,  wherever  they  be,  of  what- 
ever nationality,  they  truly  have  a  bond  more  strong  than  the 
good  and  bad  of  any  one  people.  And  what  is  nationality  that 
men  should  go  forth  to  destroy  their  nearest  of  spiritual  kin  in 
its  name? 

What  now  must  be  the  feelings  of  the  mother  whose  son  went 
forth  to  battle  and  came  not  back  again?  Proud  she  stands,  un- 
flinching for  she  knows  he  died  for  what  was  right.  She  gladly 
gave  him  to  the  cause.  For  what  was  right — ah,  but  in  the  nights 
to  come  when  she  must  lie  awake  and  think  upon  that  life  which 
died  unuttered,  the  gift  ungiven — when  she  faces  all  the  ques- 
tionings and  looks  her  sorrow  in  the  eyes,  is  there  no  doubt?  It 
was  a  mighty  sacrifice  to  give — her  all.  She  must  be  very  sure  it 
was  the  Right  for  which  he  died.  If  she  could  know  that  by  his 
death  humanity  had  been  saved  one  shame,  had  been  helped  to 
one  truth,  she  could  have  peace.  Such  a  sacrifice  a  Christ  could 
make.  Ah,  but  can  she  then  be  sure?  A  nation,  true,  was  saved  its 
pride,  another  nation  shamed — what  then?  Her  patriotism  rises 
to  his  defense.  Her  people  had  not  wished  the  war;  it  was 
forced  upon  them.  The  nation  had  been  asked  to  submit  to  a 
great  injustice.  God  help  them,  they  must  fight,  it  was  all  that 


they  could  do.  Yes,  she  believes  all  that,  but  uncomfortably  the 
question  still  remains.  Her  son  and  other  mothers'  sons  who  died, 
how  had  they  helped  humanity?  And  then  the  answer  comes: 

And  even  if  it  must  be,  it  is  wrong. 
They  say  it  was  a  noble  thing  to  die; 
His  country  called  and  he  with  vision  high 
Laid  down  his  life,  his  heart  aglow  with  song. 
Well,  there  they  lie  upon  thy  fields — the  strong; 
They  had  not  learned  to  doubt  or  question  why 
But  we  who  gave  them  up,  we  learn  to  cry, 
"Oh  God,  how  long  must  this  thing  be — how  long?" 
We  grant  that  as  things  are,  it  must  be  so; 
We  kissed  him  on  the  mouth  and  bade  him  go. 
It  is  the  things  which  are  that  we  assail — 
If  nations  lead  to  this,  then  nations  fail. 
For  all  mankind  a  man  may  quench  his  light, 
Not  for  a  few — Oh  God,  it  was  not  right! 

Even  if  it  must  be,  aye,  the  tangle  is  so  great,  it  seems  to  be 
inevitable.  Who  was  the  cause  of  this  war— was  it  Austria,  Eng- 
land, Germany,  Russia,  was  it  Kaiser  Wilhelm  or  Sir  Edward 
Grey?  Each  will  assure  you  with  all  sincerity  that  he  was  forced 
into  it.  And  I  verily  believe  they  were.  It  is  the  system  of  na- 
tionality which  is  at  fault,  the  system  of  a  nationality  which 
involves  a  spy  system,  a  secret  diplomacy,  an  army  and  a  navy 
always  at  hand  so  that  peace  itself  is  not  peace,  but  only  an 
armed  truce.  It  is  the  system  of  nationality  which  regards  the 
success  of  any  other  nation  as  a  menace  to  its  own,  which  makes 
England's  forced  claim  of  mistress  of  the  seas  a  wrong  done 
German  commerce,  which  makes  Germany's  rising  strength  a 
menace  to  English  supremacy.  Under  this  system  surely,  the  war 
was  inevitable— it  was  nevertheless  wrong. 

For  from  humanity's  standpoint — and  how  else  can  right  and 
wrong  be  judged? — war  is  always  terribly  wrong.  Think,  if  of 
nothing  else,  of  the  fearful  waste  of  fine  lives  whose  annihilation 
leaves  a  blank  that  goes  widening  on  down  the  generations.  The 
argument  has  been  advanced  by  those  who  should  know  better 


that  war  is  justifiable  scientifically  on  the  ground  that  the  fittest 
survive.  This  may  have  been  partially  true  in  the  days  of  per- 
sonal conflict;  in  the  days  of  trained  armies,  of  modern  implements 
of  warfare,  the  result  is  just  the  opposite.  The  fittest  it  is  who 
offer  themselves  for  the  sacrifice,  the  fittest  are  chosen  for  the 
army,  the  fittest  are  put  in  the  front  rank  of  battle.  It  is  the 
unfit  who  are  found  too  narrow  chested,  too  puny  to  serve,  the  unfit 
who  were  too  mean  of  spirit  to  volunteer.  These  become  the 
fathers  of  the  next  generation. 

And  let  no  belief  in  the  upward  progress  of  mankind  blind  us 
to  the  fact  that  it  contains  the  germs  of  downward  tendencies  as 
well.  I  do  believe  in  the  ultimate  justification  of  humanity,  but 
I  believe  in  it  because  I  believe  we  will  become  clear  sighted 
enough  in  time  to  utilize  intelligently  the  forces  of  evolution. 
There  is  no  miracle  of  God  or  man  which  can  bring  a  generation 
of  men  and  women  of  high  ideals  and  character  from  the  de- 
generate protoplasm  of  the  weaklings  of  the  generation  preceding. 
There  are  many  misunderstood  exceptions  of  course,  but  the  law 
holds  that  the  weak  is  father  to  the  weak,  the  strong  to  the 
strong.  Can  you  estimate  the  loss  to  humanity  of  that  brave  army 
of  the  strong  who  should  have  gone  on  multiplying  and 
gathering  strength  down  through  the  generations?  Is  not  a  very 
corollary  to  our  belief  in  the  destiny  of  man,  the  belief  that  we 
must  speedily  understand  the  laws  of  his  progress  and  further 
them,  that  we  must  learn  among  other  things  to  do  away  with  war? 

There  need  be  no  pictures  painted  of  the  terrors  of  war — of 
the  battlefields  which  were  once  fields  of  grain,  of  the  empty 
homes  and  hearts,  of  the  horrors  which  make  the  liberty  of  war 
their  cloak,  of  the  blind  hate  of  prejudice  which  grows  up  in 
men's  hearts  and  lives  on,  the  terrible  heritage  of  ages  to  come. 
It  is  enough  to  see  clearly  this  race  of  man,  this  curious  mixture 
of  what  we  call  evil  and  good,  struggling  without  purpose  as  it 
were  on  our  little  planet.  There  is  much  of  pleasure,  much  of 
sorrow,  a  little  struggling  up,  a  little  slipping  down.  It  seems 
as  though  there  were  infinite  actions  of  good,  infinite  actions  of 
evil,  but  no  hope  of  ever  a  directing  hand.  A  life  of  earnest 
endeavor  is  thrown  away,  the  world  drifts  on  directionless.  To 


believe  this,  to  believe  that  life  is  worth  only  the  amusing  pleasures, 
its  little  hopes  of  today  balanced  against  its  little  sorrows  of  to- 
morrow, this  is  to  stand  against  a  blank  wall  and  look  despair  in 
the  face.  What  is  it  then  to  be  a  man — merely  to  be  a  figment  of 
ether  capable  of  sensations,  capable  of  satisfactions  bought  by 
actions  called  good  merely  because  they  bring  such  satisfactions? 
All  that  is  best  in  us  revolts  at  this  conception.  I  do  not  stop  to 
argue  truths  and  reasons — believe  it  if  you  will.  But  this  much 
I  hold  clear  beyond  dispute:  The  only  thing  which  can  make  this 
tangled  life  of  man  worth  while  is  the  belief  that  some  how  we 
shall  work  out  a  solution  in  the  end,  that  this  hybrid  creature 
man  contains  within  him  the  germ  which  can  somehow  develop 
and  grow  upwards  to  the  sun.  We  must  believe  a  life  of  service 
not  thrown  away,  we  must  believe  that  every  attempt  to  solve  the 
social  problem,  the  problems  of  disease  and  crime  is  an  effort  in 
the  right  direction,  an  effort  which  shall  some  day  learn  the  vision 
to  succeed.  This  much  we  must  believe  in  to  hold  the  dignity  of 
life.  We  alone  can  justify  our  lives,  we  can  justify  them  alone 
by  working  toward  the  betterment  of  humanity. 

And  see  where  now  we  stand.  There  has  practically  never  been 
a  time  in  the  world's  history  when  there  has  not  been  a  war. 
There  is  a  war  today.  If  the  organization  of  the  world  remains  as 
it  is,  there  is  no  hope  of  there  not  being  a  war  tomorrow  and  the 
next  day.  Well,  how  do  we  measure  up?  In  the  household  of  man 
there  is  a  struggling  upward,  a  few  earnest  workers  who  are  giv- 
ing their  lives  to  the  educational  and  social  problems  of  their 
people,  a  great  many  who  are  helping  in  smaller  and  less  conscious 
ways  and  then  suddenly — war.  Every  other  form  of  activity 
ceases;  the  earnest  work  of  years  is  discarded,  set  aside  like  a 
plaything.  The  work  of  the  educator,  the  social  economist,  the 
eugenist  becomes  a  terrible  farce.  The  best  of  the  nation  is 
swept  aside,  the  flower  and  hope  of  the  nation  are  wiped  out,  the 
man  who  but  now  was  working  for  humanity  as  a  whole  goes  forth 
to  slay  his  fellow  workers  because  they  happen  to  be  called  by 
the  name  of  a  different  nationality.  It  is  a  horrible  travesty  and 
all  that  there  is  of  dignity  in  life,  all  that  there  is  of  purpose,  calls 
out  upon  us  that  it  must  be  stopped. 


And  why  can  it  not  be  stopped?  The, world  is  organized  now 
into  great  groups  called  nations.  They  are  the  product  of  a 
gradual  evolution  which  passed  from  the  individual  to  the  tribe, 
to  the  kingdom,  to  the  empire.  They  represent  the  best  that  man 
has  framed  thus  far  as  a  social  being,  great  communities  in  which 
the  individuals,  have  united  for  their  mutual  welfare,  a  recog- 
nition that  the  good  of  men  is  not  centered  wholly  in  themselves, 
but  includes  in  a  larger  sense  the  good  of  those  about  them,  the 
good  of  society  at  large.  Obviously  the  only  legitimate  excuse 
which  a  national  government  can  have  for  being  is  that  it  makes 
possible  the  greater  welfare,  the  greater  protection  and  possibili- 
ties of  progress  of  its  people.  Unquestionably  there  is  much  in 
a  nation  which  answers  this  requirement,  much  in  national  patriot- 
ism which  is  a  zeal  towards  this  end. 

But  see  how  the  nations  now  stand.  We  find  that  a  national  con- 
sciousness has  grown  up — perhaps  I  should  say,  still  remains — 
which  regards  tfre  nation  as  an  entity  with  a  destiny  apart  from 
the  destiny  of  the  world.  As  if  in  a  very  practical  sense  its  pros- 
perity, in  a  very  real  sense  its  salvation  were  not  dependent  on 
the  prosperity  and  salvation  of  all  other  nations.  The  English, 
it  says,  shall  be  the  greatest  of  all  peoples.  Is  Germany  surpassing 
us  in  scientific  discoveries,  in  new  inventions,  in  social  institutions? 
Then  Germany  is  a  menace  to  England.  Germany,  it  says,  shall 
be  supreme  in  the  world.  Would  such  and  such  a  country  impose 
a  progress  un-German  upon  us?  Does  such  and  such  a  country 
stand  in  the  way  of  German  commercial  development?  Then 
good  or  bad  for  the  world  as  it  may  be,  that  country  must  go. 
This  phase  of  nationality  it  is  which  leads  to  war,  it  is  in  a  certain 
sense,  always  war  whether  fighting  is  going  on  or  not. 

And  the  travesty  of  all  this,  is  that  the  leaders  of  the  nations, 
the  nations  themselves  hold  this  principle  because  they  believe  that 
it  is  for  the  good  of  their  people  that  they  hold  it.  For  the  good 
of  their  people,  when  even  in  peace  the  question  is  never  one  of 
right  and  wrong  and  humanity's  finest  hopes  may  be  crushed  out 
in  the  name  of  justice.  For  the  good  of  their  people,  when  such  a 
doctrine  lays  them  open  to  the  continual  danger  of  a  war.  They 
do  not  wish  a  war — I  do  not  believe  there  lives  a  man  so  criminal 


10 


in  soul  that  he  could  wish  a  war  —  but  though,  they  do  not  see  it, 
their  principle  is  war  in  its  very  essence.  They  find  suddenly  that 
war  is  forced  upon  them,  the  sword  begins  to  cut  the  hand  that 
holds  it. 

Nationality  makes  then,  in  a  sense,  our  greatest  advancement. 
It  is  also,  in  a  sense,  our  greatest  menace,  a  powder  magazine 
waiting  only  for  the  touch  to  blow  our  finest  into  dust  and  send 
mankind  stumbling  on  downward  into  the  night. 

And  we  are  not  exempt.  We  call  the  United  States  the  haven 
of  peace,  the  safe  refuge  of  what  spark  of  civilization  is  left 
burning.  Do  you  realize  that  we  are  standing  today  on  the  brink 
of  war  —  that  we  always  stand  so?  That  so  long  as  the  United 
States  is  a  nation,  as  long  as  Europe,  as  Asia  is  organized  into 
nations  with  all  that  that  word  implies  —  we  may  find  ourselves 
any  day  in  a  situation  which  will  involve  us  in  a  war.  Suppose 
us  even  to  remain  passive  —  some  nation  may  find  our  natural 
development  a  menace  to  her  interests,  some  nation  may  feel  her 
national  growth  demands  expansion;  we  will  be  insulted,  imposed 
upon,  an  excuse  will  be  found  to  declare  war  upon  us  and  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  avoid  it.  Sane  men  and  women  as  we  may  be, 
believers  in  peace,  we  are  still  men  and  women  with  something  of 
red  blood  in  our  veins  and  I  do  not  question  that  the  circumstances 
could  be  found  under  which  we  would  take  up  arms. 

Can  we  understand  this  situation  and  turn  aside  from  it,  can  we 
see  the  right  as  clearly  as  it  looms  before  us  —  and  still  delay? 
We  cannot  say  that  war  is  wrong  and  sigh  and  let  it  go.  We 
cannot  pray  that  God  may  see  fit  to  change  it  all  in  His  good  time. 
God  only  works  through  man.  The  Truth  is  his,  and  he  who  holds 
a  Truth  and  acts  in  its  name,  he  it  is  who  does  the  miracle  of  God. 
The  Truth  of  God  is  here,  the  work  is  here  to  do  —  must  we  not 
rise  to  do  it  in  His  name? 

With  our  present  system  of  nation  and  jealous  nation,  we  have 
war.  Looking  before  us  into  the  future,  we  can  see  only  new  ex- 
pansions, new  conflicts,  new  wars.  Rank  upon  rank,  we  see  the 
fine  inheritance  of  the  nations  wiped  out,  bit  by  bit  we  feel  the 
hope  of  humanity's  salvation  slipping  through  our  fingers.  The 
system  must  be  changed.  We  see  the  vision  clearly  and  it  gives 
us  strength  to  dare.  It  shall  be  changed. 


11 


This  does  not  mean  that  we  have  quite  lost  our  hold  upon  the 
practical.  We  do  not  expect  warring  Europe  to  hear  our  voice 
and  throw  aside  its  arms;  we  do  not*  hope  to  remodel  human 
nature  with  a  word  to  suit  the  world's  best  needs.  This  plan  and 
that  have  been  proposed.  Glorious  they  are,  visions  of  a  world 
grown  wise  but  containing  no  answer  to  the  manifold  problems 
of  the  present.  They  are  the  task  completed,  but  they  give  us  no 
beginning,  no  first  step  we  can  safely  make. 

And  yet  this  first  step  must  be  taken,  the  world  union  must 
come,  a  confederacy  of  nations,  united  to  maintain  a  permanent 
peace.  We  can  make  it  only  as  practical  as  possible.  There  shall 
be  first  an  international  congress  which  shall  have  power  to  make 
and  administer  laws  controlling  international  affairs.  The  present 
diplomatic  relations  between  the  nations  of  such  a  confederacy 
shall  be  done  away  with,  permanent  committees  shall  take  the 
place  of  secret  treaties  and  spy  systems.  A  court  or  courts  shall 
settle  all  disputes  between  nations.  There  shall  be  an  international 
police  force  of  sufficient  strength  to  completely  overshadow  any 
national  resistance  which  might  arise  within  or  without  the  con- 
federacy. This  involves  the  disarmament  of  the  individual  nations 
and  the  support  by  taxation  or  other  means  which  the  congress 
shall  specify  of  an  international  army  and  navy. 

These  changes,  of  course,  shall  be  made  gradually  and  only 
upon  the  adoption  of  this  plan  by  a  sufficient  number  of  world 
powers  to  insure  the  protection  of  those  disarmed.  If  free  trade 
and  other  economic  reforms  prove  essential  to  the  maintenance 
of  peace,  then  the  international  congress,  supported  by  the  national 
governments,  shall  make  such  rulings  when  they  become  neces- 
sary. They  shall  not  be  imposed  upon  the  world,  but  will  be  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  the  needs  of  its  new  organization. 

Whatever  exceptions  our  private  prejudices  may  make  to  the 
details  of  specific  reforms  advocated  by  this  peace  advocate  or 
that,  in  the  main,  this  seems  clearly  a  course  for  which  we  can 
stand. 

Such  an  international  government  leaves  to  the  nation  its  ele- 
ments of  helpfulness  and  robs  it  only  of  its  pernicious  prides  and 
jealousies;  such  a  world  union  lifts  patriotism  from  a  blind  self 
sacrifice  to  a  self  dedication  no  less  noble  and  far  more  wise — it 


12 


makes  patriotism  coincident  with  love  of  humanity  and  love  of 
right. 

To  the  statesmen  of  the  old  system,  perhaps,  this  scheme  seems 
ethically  sound,  but  too  quixotic  to  be  practicable.  What  new 
step  in  advance  was  not?  Must  not  the  idea  of  a  tribe  have 
appeared  so  to  the  early  caveman?  To  the  struggling  peoples  of 
the  Dark  Ages  must  not  a  national  patriotism  have  appeared  un- 
believable? But  the  nations  would  not  all  come  in  at  first,  they 
urge.  We  do  not  need  them  all  to  make  a  beginning.  Even  the 
necessary  few  are  not  yet  ready  to  take  the  step.  We  can  but 
try  and  see.  We  know  that  it  is  right  and  if  the  nations  still 
delay — well,  we  can  but  work  the  harder  to  make  them  under- 
stand; it  is  a  new  call  for  our  effort.  Once  in,  they  say,  it  seems 
far  too  much  like  the  millennium  for  the  nations  suddenly  to  give 
up  all  their  prejudice  and  work  peacefully  together.  They  would 
find  their  interests  clash  and  there  would  be  a  civil  war,  per- 
haps— but  if  these  dangers  lie  in  our  path,  we  must  risk  them,  that 
is  all.  There  are  but  two  paths  for  us  to  take  and  this  is  the  right 
one.  God  help  us.  We  shall  weather  the  civil  war  somehow  or 
we  shall  perish  in  the  attempt.  We  cannot  improve  matters  fey 
failing  to  make  the  effort. 

There  is  bound  to  be  a  period  of  adjustment  whenever  such  a 
step  be  taken,  bound  to  be  a  period  when  feelings  clash,  when 
interests  seem  opposed,  when  apparently  there  is  no  pulling 
together  possible.  Then  gradually  the  edges  of  nationality  and 
prejudice  shall  wear  off.  People  shall  no  longer  count  each  other 
foreigners  of  whom  to  be  jealous,  but  rather  fellow  citizens  of  a 
great  state  with  common  interests.  So  it  was  that  the  United 
States  weathered  the  storms  of  sectional  interests  and  emerged 
a  nation.  It  might  have  perished  in  the  attempt,  it  could  not  do 
otherwise  than  make  it. 

To  some  such  platform  as  this  then,  we  can  give  our  loyalty. 
And  it  is  our  loyalty  which  is  the  matter  of  prime  importance,  for 
whatever  the  means,  whatever  the  details  of  the  organization 
which  is  to  be  the  answer  to  the  problem,  it  is  alone  the  fire  of  a 
new  patriotism  which  shall  put  the  courage  in  men's  hearts  to  act. 
It  is  their  loyalty  to  Right,  to  man  which  shall  outshine  the  loyalty 
to  their  national  few. 


13 


If  our  nation,  if  other  nations  are  not  now  ready  to  give  up 
their  jealousies  and  struggles,  it  is  because  their  people  have  not 
yet  lifted  up  their  eyes  from  their  little  altar  fires  to  the  sun. 
There  are  many  weary  souls  abroad  who  have  felt  so  keenly  the 
high  thrill  of  sacrifice,  who  have  paid  so  dearly  to  their  idol, 
patriotism,  that  they  could  not  welcome  one  who  came  to  prove 
them  wrong.  There  are  many  among  us  for  whom  the  lowly  fire 
shines  so  bright,  they  cannot  see  the  day  is  dawning  overhead. 
If  they  but  knew,  if  they  but  understood,  if  once  they  saw  the 
vision  clearly,  this  Right,  that  Wrong,  this  way  destruction,  that 
a  hope,  then  surely  they  must  take  their  stand  to  serve  this  new 
loyalty  with  the  ardor  learned  in  service  of  the  old. 

Is  ignorance  then  all?  Is  then  our  task  so  light?  For  see,  we 
can  begin  at  home.  I  can  think  clearly,  you  think  clearly — so 
much  gained.  And  we  who  hold  the  torch  within  our  hands  and 
see  it  burn,  we  now  can  hold  the  flame  on  high  that  others  too 
may  see.  Little  by  little  the  light  shall  spread,  perhaps  running 
quickly  on  the  wave  of  a  great  enthusiasm,  perhaps  slowly  with 
the  wearing  away  of  a  prejudice — but  surely  always,  for  there  is 
no  going  back. 

Yesterday  it  was  we  held  the  love  of  country  next  to  love  of 
God, — well,  we  have  not  disowned  that  faith,  we  have  but  grown 
within  it.  The  past  is  not  a  garment  which  we  cast  off  when  we 
don  a  new,  it  is  our  childhood,  very  fibre  of  our  being.  Our  wider 
judgments  are  but  childhood  ones  a  little  bit  expanded,  our  ideals 
reach  but  little  way  beyond  the  old,  our  loyalties  are  the  loyalties 
the  past  has  taught.  And  so  we  honor  national  patriotism  which 
has  lifted  man  to  the  heights  of  loyalty  and  sacrifice;  we  must 
honor  it  who  would  fee  advocates  of  peace,  for  it  is  only  by  its 
light  that  we  could  see  to  read  the  words  that  tell  us  of  a  vision 
still  beyond. 

Patriotism — it  is  a  point  of  view.  We  stood  upon  the  lowlands 
once  and  loved  the  country  near  at  hand.  But  we  have  climbed  a 
little  higher  now  to  see  beyond  the  near  horizon — the  broader  scene 
is  ours  to  love.  "Ours"  is  the  magic  word — ours  to  make  or  mar, 


14 


to  live  for  and  to  serve  in  sacrifice — or  to  betray  in  selfishness. 
Ours  was  the  nation  and  we  loved  it,  good  and  bad — ours  is  the 
motley  world. 

I  stooped  and  ran  my  fingers  in  the  earth 
And  sudden  felt  my  kinship  with,  the  mould; 
My  own — this  strip  of  land,  now  bare  and  cold — 
Beneath  my  touch  I  saw  it  warm,  give  birth; 
I  thrilled  in  ownership — and  knew  my  worth. 
I  saw  the  sun  rim  round  the  house  with  gold, 
I   saw  the  smoke  uncurling,  fold  on  fold: 
I  dreamt  it  lost — life's  fullness  grew  life's  dearth. 
My  fathers  gave  their  lives  to  keep  this  land, 
My  fathers  loved  and  wrought  and  sang  its  soul, 
Real,   pulsing — mine  they  made   it — yes,  mine   all! 
Another  threatens  now  with  jealous  hand. 
I  care  not  who  he  is,  he  asks  my  whole — 
My  God,  and  I  should  stand  and  see  it  fall! 

Oh  blind,  who  stretch  their  hands  out  toward  the  light 

That  shines  to  fill  their  little  dark!     The  sun 

Greets  those  who  can  forget  a  battle  won, 

Who  dare  to  judge  the  god  for  which  they  fight. 

I  see  not  dully  with  my  fathers'  sight; 

This  little  land  was  theirs — they  knew  but  one — 

But  mine  the  world  and  every  brave  deed  done; 

My  nation  are  the  few  who  stand  for  right. 

My  fathers  lived  their  lives  both  false  and  true, 

One  people  holds  no  torch  to  guide  the  rest — 

My  hope  lies  in  the  whole  humanity. 

I  still  am  proud,  my  love  finds  idols  new; 

I  still  must  give  unpaid  to  give  my  best — 

Oh  world,  oh  man,  take  thou  my  loyalty! 


15 


THE  UNITED  WORLD 

By 
C.  E.  GRUNSKY. 


October,  1914. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  the  Nations  of  the  World  must 
unite  in  one  strong  coalition  for  the  settlement  of  international 
differences  without  recourse  to  war. 

The  hope  that  with  advancing  civilization  each  country  upon  its 
own  initiative  will  disarm  is  futile.  Disarmament  must  be  com- 
pelled by  higher  authority  and  will  not  result  until  there  shall 
have  been  organized,  under  the  earnest  and  hearty  co-operation 
of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  world,  an  International  Govern- 
ment with  adequate  power  to  deal  with  all  international  questions 
and  with  a  sufficient  armament,  to  enforce  peace  between  all 
countries  the  world  over. 

Immediately  upon  the  organization  of  such  an  International 
Coalition  and  the  creation  of  a  navy  of  adequate  power  to  police 
the  world,  the  disarmament  of  each  nation  should  begin  according 
to  some  reasonable  program. 


16 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 
UNITED  WORLD 

The  people  of  the  world,  realizing  that  to  insure  peace  between 
nations  and  to  promote  the  general  welfare  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  international  strife  must  be  prevented,  acting  through  their 
respective  National  Governments  do  hereby  establish  this  Con- 
stitution for  the  United  World. 

ARTICLE    I. 

Section  1.  The  Government  of  the  United  World  shall  have 
such  powers  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  conferred  upon  it  by 
the  people  of  those  countries  which  have  joined  this  Coalition  of 
Nations. 

Section  2.  Until  its  powers  are  extended  or  otherwise  modified 
the  Government  of  the  United  World  shall  have  power  to  settle 
international  disputes;  to  limit  the  armament  of  nations  with  a 
view  to  permitting  each  country  to  maintain  only  such  armament 
as  may  be  required  for  international  police  purposes;  to  enforce 
observance  of  its  decrees  in  reference  to  these  matters  by  force 
of  arms  if  necessary;  to  maintain  to  this  end  a  navy  and  such 
armies  as  may  be  necessary;  to  establish  army  and  navy  posts 
in  any  part  of  the  world;  to  take  such  measures  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  maintain  this  coalition  of  nations;  and  to  provide  for  an 
equitable  apportionment  of  the  expenses  of  the  Government  to 
the  countries  which  have  joined  this  coalition;  to  enforce  its 
levies  for  funds;  to  borrow  money;  to  acquire  lands  for  govern- 
ment, for  military,  for  naval  and  for  related  purposes;  to  make 
such  laws  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  execution  of  the  powers 
herein  set  forth  and  to  enforce  obedience  thereto,  and  to  take  all 
measures  that  may  be  necessary  to  preserve  this  union. 

Section  3.  Legislative  power  is  hereby  vested  in  a  Senate  to  be 
composed  of  Senators  from  each  of  the  countries  which  have 
joined  this  coalition.  Each  such  country  shall  be  entitled  to  one 
Senator  in  addition  to  one  for  each  10,000,000  population  or  frac- 
tion thereof  up  to  a  population  of  100,000,000  and  to  one  for  each 


17 


50,000,000  or  fraction  thereof  in  excess  of  a  population  of  100,000,- 
000. 

All  Senators  except  those  first  elected  or  appointed  shall  be 
elected  or  appointed  for  terms  of  six  years.  Those  first  elected 
or  appointed  shall  be  elected  or  appointed  by  the  country  which 
they  are  to  represent  in  groups  as  nearly  equal  as  practicable  for 
terms  of  two,  four  and  six  years. 

The  method  of  the  election  or  appointment  of  Senators  from 
the  several  countries  shall  be  determined  by  the  people  of  these 
countries  within  the  limit  of  numbers  as  here  set  forth,  the  last 
preceding  official  census  being  taken  as  the  guide  in  determining 
the  numbers  of  Senators  to  which  each  country  is  entitled.  The 
Senatorial  terms  shall  begin  to  run  at  noon  on  the  first  day  of 
January  after  this  Constitution  goes  into  effect. 

Section  4.  Thq  Senate  shall  have  full  power  to  pass  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  conduct  of  its  proceedings;  to  establish  and 
organize  a  State  Department;  an  Army  Department;  a  Naval 
Department;  a  Treasury  Department;  a  Department  of  Public 
Works,  and  such  other  executive  Departments  as  may  be  found 
to  be  necessary  or  desirable. 

It  shall  have  power  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  its  mem- 
bers; to  settle  disputes  in  case  of  rival  claims  to  membership;  to 
suspend  and  to  expel  members,  and  to  impeach  for  cause  and 
bring  to  trial  before  the  Supreme  Tribunal,  the  President  or  any  of 
the  members  of  the  Cabinet.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Senate, 
subject  to  the  limitations  of  this  Constitution,  to  exercise  the 
powers  set  forth  in  Section  2  of  this  Constitution. 

Section  5.  The  Senate  shall  elect  a  President  of  the  United 
World,  to  hold  office  during  the  year  in  which  elected  and  there- 
after for  ten  years  from  12  o'clock  midday  of  the  first  day  of 
January  following  this  election,  and  shall  in  the  year  preceding 
the  expiration  of  the  presidential  term  elect  his  successor.  It 
shall  in  the  case  of  a  presidential  vacancy  elect  for  the  unexpired 
term.  The  presidential  term  shall  be  for  ten  years;  the  presi- 
dential decades  shall  begin  to  run  at  noon  of  the  first  day  of 
January  following  the  election  of  the  first  President. 

Any  person  in  the  World  shall  be  eligible  for  President. 


18 


The  President  shall,  in  the  case  of  a  failure  to  elect  his  suc- 
cessor or  delay  in  the  qualification  of  his  successor,  hold  office 
until  a  successor  has  been  elected  and  has  qualified. 

The  Senate  shall  prescribe  an  oath  of  office  to  be  taken  by  the 
President-elect  before  he  can  assume  the  duties  of  the  office. 

Section  6.  The  Senate  shall  have  power  to  determine  the  method 
of  the  election  of  the  President,  which  must  be  by  secret  ballot, 
and  shall  fix  the  time  when  balloting  must  begin  not  later  than  the 
first  day  of  October  nor  earlier  that  the  first  day  of  July  of  the 
year  preceding  the  beginning  of  a  new  presidential  term. 

Section  7.  The  Senate  shall  elect  from  its  own  body  for  such 
term  of  years  as  it  may  fix,  a  presiding  officer  who  shall  in  the 
case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of  President  automatically  become 
President  and  shall  hold  office  as  President  but  only  until  a  new 
President  shall  have  been  elected  by  the  Senate  and  shall  have 
qualified. 

Section  8.  The  Senate  shall  have  power  to  levy  upon  the 
various  nations  which  participate  in  the  coalition,  on  any  basis 
which  it  may  find  equitable,  for  funds  with  which  to  carry  on  the 
government;  and  it  shall  have  power  to  enforce  the  payment  of 
such  levies. 

Section  9.  The  President  shall  appoint  a  Cabinet  consisting  of 
a  Secretary  of  State,  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  Secretary  of 
the  Army,  a  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  a  Secretary  of  Public 
Works. 

Section  10.  The  five  Cabinet  members  shall  be  the  executive 
heads  of  their  respective  departments.  They  shall  hold  office  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  President  and  until  their  successors  are  ap- 
pointed and  shall  have  qualified.  They  shall  have  a  voice  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Senate,  but  without  the  right  to  vote.  In  the 
case  of  a  vacancy  both  in  the  office  of  President  and  in  that  of 
the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  the  Secretary  of  State  shall  per- 
form the  duties  of  the  President,  and  in  case  this  office  also  is 
vacant  then  this  and  any  additional  vacancies  are  to  be  filled  by 
automatic  advancement  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  of  the  Secretary  of  Public  Works,  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Army,  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  the  order  here  named. 


19 


Section  11.  The  Senate  shall  have  power  to  fix  the  compensa 
tion  of  its  members  and  employees  of  the  President  and  of  th< 
members  of  the  Cabinet. 

Section  12.  The  Senate  shall  from  among  nominations  made  b 
the  various  countries  which  have  joined  this  coalition  of  Nations 
name  21  Justices  who  shall  form  a  Supreme  Tribunal  for  the  con 
sideration  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  international  relations  tha 
may  under  the  laws,  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Senate  properl 
be  brought  before  it. 

Each  Justice  shall  hold  office  for  life. 

No  more  than  three  Justices  shall  be  from  the  same  country. 

All  appointments  of  Justices  must  be  made  from  among  nomi- 
nees by  such  nations  as  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege 
of  making  nominations;  provided  that  when  any  nation  has  madej 
no  nominations  any  of  its  citizens  shall  be  eligible  and  all  of 
shall  be  considered  to  be  in  nomination. 


AMENDMENTS. 
ARTICLE  II. 

Section  1.     Amendments  to  this  Constitution  may  be  proposed} 
by  the  Senate.     A  two-thirds  vote  of  all  Senators  entitled  to  vot< 
shall  be  necessary  to  secure  the  submission  of  an  amendment  to  th< 
nations  which  are  members  of  the  United  World.     Upon  ratifica- 
tion by  two-thirds  of  these  nations  any  amendment  thus  propose 
shall  be  in  full  force  and  effect. 


ENACTING  CLAUSE. 

Section  2.  This  Constitution  is  to  be  in  full  force  and  effect  up- 
on ratification  by  at  least  seven  nations,  among  whom  there  rnusl 
be:  England,  France,  Germany,  Italy  and  the  United  States  oi 
America. 

The  Senate  shall  meet  for  the  first  time  at  noon  on  the  first  Mon- 
day of  July  in  the  year  following  the  year  in  which  this  Constitu- 
tion goes  into  effect. 


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